Storm calls sorted by hazard and estimates booked, while your climbers stay in the tree.
Nobody on a tree crew can take a call. The climber is aloft, the ground crew is feeding the chipper, and the owner is on the estimate route. The AI receptionist answers as your company, asks the hazard questions you wrote, books estimates with photos, and pages a person when a tree is on a house.
A saw in your hands and a phone in your pocket, all day, every day
On a normal day the calls are about trees that are not falling down: how much to remove a maple, can you look at the neighbor's tree that leans over my fence, do you grind stumps, do you take the wood, is there a charge to come out, when is the crew coming, can you trim the branches rubbing the roof. Almost none of them can be answered with a price on the phone. Every one of them needs a photo or a visit, and every one that hits voicemail while the chipper runs becomes someone else's estimate.
After a storm the calls come all at once, and each caller is sure theirs is the one that cannot wait. The receptionist has to sort them by hazard: a tree on a roof, a limb blocking a road, a piece hanging over a driveway, anything touching a wire. Callers reporting an injury are told to call for help first; wires go to the utility. A tree lying in a yard hurting nobody is told the truth about when a crew can come, and the tree on the bedroom gets your on-call lead paged within the minute.
The planned side of the business is an estimator's calendar. Visits are booked by area so the estimator is not crossing the county twice, the homeowner has to be present for a tree over a house, and photos collected first let the owner decide which requests get a drive at all.
What an AI receptionist for a tree company has to do
The questions come from your estimate form and your storm policy, and it asks them in the order you set.
Ask the hazard questions in order
Is anyone hurt, is anything touching a wire, did the tree hit a structure or a vehicle, is a road or driveway blocked, is a piece still hanging. The answers set the escalation path, the safety instructions are read to the caller, and all of it is logged on the lead.
Book the estimate with what the estimator needs
The address, which tree, what is beneath it, how equipment gets in, whether the homeowner will be home, and a text link for photos before the visit, placed into the estimator's calendar by area and day.
Answer the everyday questions in your words
Whether you are insured and what certificate you can send, whether someone on staff holds a credential and which one, stump grinding, what happens to wood and chips, permits, your minimum charge, how long a removal takes and what cleanup includes, each answered exactly as you wrote it.
Never quote a tree price
It explains what drives the cost (size, what is under the tree, access, condition, the stump) and books the look. The price comes from the person who sees the tree, every time.
Route the calls that need a person
Property managers, municipalities, the utility, the crane vendor, a customer whose crew is on the way, and anyone with a complaint go straight to the person who handles them, with the details already in a text.
Handle the neighbor's tree correctly
When the caller wants work on a tree they do not own, it explains that the owner has to approve the work, offers to book with the owner or with both, and notes the boundary question on the lead so the estimator walks in knowing.
How we set it up for a tree service company
The script is built from your estimate form and your storm policy, and your number does not change.
A script written from your estimate form
The questions a caller gets are the ones your estimator would ask on the driveway, in your words, approved line by line, with the answers you want given to the questions you hear every day.
Storm mode
After a wind or ice event, the greeting changes, the triage questions tighten, your storm pricing policy is explained the same way to every caller, and the caller gets a text when a crew is dispatched to them.
On-call paging that follows your rotation
The crew lead on call this week gets a call and then a text with the address, the photos and the hazard summary, with a second person in the chain if nobody picks up.
Booking by zone
Estimate slots organized by area and day, confirmations texted with the photo link, and a reminder the evening before so the homeowner is there when the estimator arrives.
Every call on the lead
A transcript, a summary, the photos and the booked visit on the lead in your CRM, recorded only where your state permits and callers are told, with a daily digest to the owner.
What you own on day one.
Every account is opened in your company's name with you as the owner. If you ever leave, you change a password, not your business.
- Domain, hosting and the site files
- Phone numbers and call recordings
- The CRM and its database
- Email and text lists, with consent records
- Google Business Profile and every listing
- Analytics and Search Console
AI Reception for tree service, answered.
Can it tell a real emergency from a worried homeowner?
It asks what the tree hit, whether wires are involved, whether anyone is hurt and whether a piece is still hanging, and applies the rules you set. Injuries and wires get the safety instructions and the right agency first. Calls that meet your emergency rules page your on-call lead; the rest become booked estimates with honest timing.
What does it say when someone asks what a removal costs?
That it depends on the size, what sits under the tree, how equipment can reach it, the tree's condition and whether the stump is included, and that the estimator will give a firm price after seeing it or the photos. It never guesses a number.
Will it book a crane job?
It books the estimate visit. Whether a tree needs a crane, a street closure and a deposit is the estimator's decision, and the receptionist will not promise a crew date for a job nobody has looked at.
What about a caller reporting a tree on a power line?
It tells them to stay well away, to report the line to the utility and to call for help if anyone is hurt, and logs the call. Whether you are also paged for line calls is a rule you set, since the utility has to clear the line before your crew can touch the tree.
Does it work with the scheduling we already have?
It writes to our CRM if you use it, and to a shared calendar if you do not. The answering service comparison covers why booking a visit beats taking a message.
AI Reception for tree service. Owned by you.
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